In Conversation With Accession No.  TP–1737–2026
COMMON SENSE T. PAINE PHILADELPHIA MDCCLXXVI THE CRISIS These are the times that try men's souls. RIGHTS OF MAN PART THE FIRST T. PAINE · 1791 AGE OF REASON 1794 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE COMMON SENSE; ADDRESSED TO THE INHABITANTS OF AMERICA, On the following interesting Subjects. I. Of the Origin and Design of Government II. Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession III. Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs IV. Of the present Ability of America Written by an ENGLISHMAN A B C D E F G H I K TYPE CASE · CAPS & LOWER compositor's stick PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 1776 SOCIETY in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil... OF the ORIGIN and DESIGN of GOVERNMENT in general, with concise Remarks on the ENGLISH CONSTITUTION. These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will shrink... PRINTING HOUSE · PHILADELPHIA Common Sense · In Press R. Bell, Publisher · January 1776 120,000 copies · three months cf. Gutenberg · 1440 iron screw press hand-set type · pewter
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Thomas
Paine
of Common Sense

1737  —  1809
Historical Archive  ·  Portrait Study
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Pamphleteer & Revolutionary
Thetford, Norfolk, 1737  ·  New York City, 1809

Thomas Paine turned the American Revolution from a tax dispute into a war for human freedom. His 47-page pamphlet Common Sense, published in January 1776, sold 120,000 copies in three months and convinced a generation of colonists that kings were a fiction and independence a necessity.

He wrote with the fury of a man who believed words could remake the world — and they did, twice, in America and France. Yet he died nearly friendless, denounced by the very nation he helped create. His later works proved too radical even for radicals.

He demanded not just political revolution but moral revolution. He is still waiting for it.

These Are the Times That Try Men's Souls

Argue with
the Pamphleteer.

Paine speaks from Common Sense, The Crisis Papers, Rights of Man, The Age of Reason, and Agrarian Justice — a body of work that spans five decades of revolutionary thought across three countries.

He was the first writer to call for American independence in plain language anyone could read. He was also the first to propose something like a universal basic income. He has been called the father of the American Revolution and an enemy of God — often by the same people.

Ask him about monarchy, religion, inequality, revolution, or what he thinks of the republic he helped create and what America has done with it.

Common Sense · January 1776 "A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides."
Revolutionary Politics Political Pamphlets American Independence Natural Rights Deism Social Contract Anti-Monarchy Religious Skepticism Economic Justice The Republic in 2026
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"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
— Thomas Paine  ·  The Crisis  ·  December 1776
Corpus Sources
Common Sense · 1776 The Crisis Papers · 1776–1783 Rights of Man · 1791 The Age of Reason · 1794–1807 Agrarian Justice · 1797 Letter to George Washington · 1796